I'm Nobody

by free man writer

He didn't have anything when he was born. Just a name and number. But over time, what he had grew. He, with his friends began to understand that there was more to their existence then just their name and number. They will prove that they were meant to be real. To exist. To become something more than just a Nobody. Co-written and created with Jebest4781. Fem Shepard. Now on Ao3.

20. We're in the Home Stretch Now

Hey, the sight is still operating properly and we can keep this ball rolling.

Glad that I can see proper reviews now on the site as well. Only shame is the fact that A LOT of people had to wait a literal damn week to read the chapter.

Hopefully this doesn't happen again for a while.

Other than that, let's keep going.

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.

I'm Nobody Chapter 20: We're in the home stretch now.

The Normandy flew far from the Citadel, having taken the Relay closest to them to take them directly to the Mu Relay.

Towards the Terminus System where the Council has absolutely no jurisdiction.

Good.

That meant they had a greater leverage of freedom going into this fight.

Get to Ilos and take Saren down permanently.

The literal fate of the Galaxy was hanging in the balance as the Normandy was racing towards its destination.

They will not fail.

Within the ship itself, an unusual tense calmness permeated the ship and its personnel.

Not much chatter or noise was going about other than the hum of the ship's functions going about its processes with some occasional words being tossed around here and there.

Among those that were one of the quieter ones aboard the ship was Commander Shepard, standing over the map of the galaxy as she observed the swirling mass of cosmic dust, stars and planets.

This was it.

She knew it was.

They had Saren cornered and that's when a savage animal like Saren would attack at his most vicious.

When being backed up against the wall with little chance of escape.

Thinking on it, Shepard would normally figure Saren wouldn't worry whatsoever with them coming for him.

After all, he was an experienced Spectre with years under his belt and commanding basically an army of Geth, Heartless and however many mercenaries he had hired up to this point. On top of that, the damn bastard had a Reaper at his beck and call or vice versa really.

But she knew he was reeling from Virmire.

Detonating his headquarters on top of Stitch quite literally tearing his arms apart.

She could feel it in her gut that the next time Saren sees them, he would either come at them to kill or to get away to finish his own plans.

And they needed to stop him.

Sighing, Shepard stepped away from the map and went to go about her final rounds with the crew.

She knew Della was by her ship and last she checked; Stitch was close by as well with his own.

Shepard went around the ship, having stopped to speak with Garrus, Kaidan, Wrex and Ashley.

Each one of them stated that they were ready and prepared for whatever they were about to face. That they were behind Shepard and would stay by her side to bring that rogue Spectre down.

She appreciated all this.

It was a comforting thought and affirmation of the crew that has been on this journey with her.

Jane had never asked for such a thing but damned if she were to lie to herself about doing this with a different crew.

Smiling to herself, Shepard walked past the medbay and found their resident Archaeologist sitting to herself.

She appeared to be in deep thought, simply sitting there in her seat.

"Liara?"

The Asari jolted slightly, a light hue of embarrassment on her cheeks as she looked up to the Commander.

"Oh, Shepard." Liara said. "Apologies. I didn't hear you come in."

"It's alright, Liara." Shepard waved off. "You looked like a lot was on your mind. What's up?"

Liara didn't respond at first, contemplating on something that appeared to be weighing on her mind.

"Just a meeting I had with someone before we had departed from the Citadel."

"A meeting with someone?" Shepard tilted her head. "With who?"

"I didn't get his name." Liara stated. "But he was human. A man perhaps around Axel's age if not slightly younger."

"He seems to have left an impact on you." Shepard noted.

"This man was unusual." Liara said. "When I spoke to him, all he did was question me."

Shepard frowned. "What about?"

Liara herself seemed unsure as to how to answer this question. "He asked about the state of the galaxy, the growing appearance of the Heartless and if I had an opinion on it."

Suddenly, Liara had a recollection of this conversation. "Wait, no, I do remember his name."

"Who was he?"

"He called himself Zo."

"Zo?" Shepard repeated. "Like Z-O?"

"That's how he presented it to be." Liara said.

"What did he look like?"

Liara thought about it for a moment. "He wore what appeared to be a lab coat of some kind that covered most of his attire. He had silver grayish hair with it over his right eye slightly."

"Sounds emo." Shepard couldn't help but say.

"Emo?"

"I'll tell you about it later." Shepard waved off. "So this guy really left an impression on you, huh?"

"He was just strange." Liara said. "But… when you returned from this Etherium galaxy you went off to… I thought that he felt familiar."

"Felt familiar? What do you mean?" Shepard asked.

"He "felt" familiar in the sense of rather… devoid his tone was or how there didn't seem to be anything coming off of him in terms of emotions."

Shepard's eyes slowly widened upon hearing this, her mind correlating this piece of information to what they had learned about in regard to emotions. Specifically, about the lack thereof for three of their members in particular.

"Liara." Shepard's voice was stern. "If you ever run into this man again, notify us immediately."

"Shepard?"

"Just… trust me on this." Jane said. "Call it a gut feeling."

"If you say so Shepard." Liara said with a nod.

"Are you ready?" Jane asked after several moments of silence.

"Whoever is for moments such as these." Liara said, clearly not expecting an answer.

Shepard snorted in agreement, watching as the Asari sighed to herself.

"Shepard?"

"Mmm?"

"Thank you."

Shepard gazed at her Archaeologist in confusion. "For what?"

"For rescuing me on Therum." Liara said. "For everything you've done for me after. Letting me come on this journey… helping me confront my mother."

The Spectre's expression softened at the mention of Benezia and the inner turmoil Liara must have gone through in seeing what became of her mother only to play a role in her demise.

"Mothers." Jane said in a quiet voice. "They're a tricky thing sometimes."

Liara gave the Commander a small smile. "They can be."

Shepard nodded, thumbing behind her. "Well, gotta make the rounds to the others. If you need anything Liara, don't hesitate to ask."

Liara nodded and as Shepard turned around, the Asari held up a hand with her mouth open to speak...

Yet she quickly retracted it as she watched Shepard walk away with her slumping into her seat.

'She doesn't need that kind of pressure right now.' Liara internally said, sighing to herself as she turned back to her desk and opted to pull up some Prothean hieroglyphics she was reading up on earlier.

After everything they had gone through, learning about these Reapers and their apparent direct role to play in the extinction of the Protheans, she figured there may be more clues to find that perhaps would assist them in the future.

Shepard, unaware of Liara's personal dilemma, walked down to the cargo bay and saw Della resting on her ship with a blank look on her face.

Approaching her, she gently knocked on the side of the ship, drawing the Duck's attention.

"Oh Shepard." Della greeted upon seeing her. "What's up?"

"Nothing, just making the rounds is all." Shepard stated. "You alright there? Looked like you were thinking about something."

Della didn't respond right away, looking back up at the ceiling before letting out a sigh. Jumping down from her ship, she leaned on it as she removed her flight helmet she usually wore.

"I guess I'm kinda nervous."

"Nervous?" Shepard blinked at her admittance. "That's a surprise coming from you."

Della chuckled aloud, rubbing her head bashfully. "Yeah, this is all sorta new to me."

"What? The overbearing pressure of trying to stop a megalomaniac who's been brainwashed by a race of ancient super AI that wants to wipe out all life in the galaxy?"

The anthropomorphic duck guffawed aloud.

"When you put it like that yeah, that does feel rather overwhelming." Della said, shaking her head with a mirthful smile. "I'm not my brother unfortunately. Him and Goofy and the King? Now those guys are real warriors. I may know how to fight and show off my skills and all but Donald was always the fighter out of the two of us. There's a reason why he's the court wizard and I'm just an adventurer."

"Being an adventurer isn't an easy lifestyle either, you know?"

"Yeah, but the things he could are unreal." Della said. "Really wishing I paid more attention to him whenever he tried teaching me." The Duck's face scrunched up determinedly. "Next time I see him, I'll drag him into the ring until he clobbers the magic right into me."

"Bet he'll get a kick out of that."

"He probably will." Della chuckled to herself.

"Well, I'm glad to have you on board for this one."

"Hey, I still owe ya after saving me on your Earth's moon and giving me a place to stay until I head back home." Della cheerfully said.

"Your ship alright?"

"Yeah, it's all good to go." Della confidently said, patting it confidently.

Shepard momentarily gazed upon the ship with her rubbing her chin in thought.

"I do have a question about the Gummi drive, Della."

"Which is?"

"Couldn't we have used it to speed up our flight path to Ilos?"

"We could… if your ship had been there previously with the Gummi drive installed." Della then explained. "Certain destinations can be easily traversed towards if the ship had the gummi navigation system register the one destination beforehand."

"So we have to do things the old fashion way, huh?" Shepard asked though she already knew the answer to that.

"Sad, but true." Della confirmed. "Uncle Scrooge and a partner of his… What was his name again? Something with a 'C' I think. Anyway, my uncle and his friend have been working on a means in which to go around that but they haven't had much luck."

"Figures."

"Still, you can get around certain parts of the galaxy more easily now."

"How's that?"

"The ship has been to places like Luna, The Citadel and several other planets." Della said. "That's what you could call a passive ability of the Gummi's. Whenever it integrates itself into new ships, it "memorizes" the ships courses and stops and stores them into their schematics so when you want to go back to places you've already been to, you'll get there in a snap of your fingers."

"Hmmm, useful." Shepard nodded approvingly. "I'm gonna go check up on the rest."

"I'll see ya later Commander." Della saluted. "I'll be ready when you are."

"Good to hear." Shepard nodded in appreciation, walking away from the anthropomorphic duck.

She had climbed back up to the Normandy's main quarters of the ship.

Walking forward, she spotted both Roxas and Xion sitting together at the mess hall table. They were both huddled close together and were looking down at what appeared to be a book.

Quirking her brow, Shepard was about to walk over when…

"Leave 'em be."

She jolted slightly, turning back to see Axel in his usual posture, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"You have a habit of doing that, you know." Shepard deadpanned at the fiery Nobody who only grinned in amusement.

"Sorry, it's just you make it way too easy." Axel remarked.

"Oh really? Maybe you're just too quiet for your own good, ever thought about that?"

"Excuse moi?" Axel said in mock-offence. "I'll have you know that I can be quite loud and bombastic."

"Yes, clearly." Shepard said dryly, lip twitching upwards. "What're they reading?"

"Something they got from the Etherium galaxy." Axel revealed. "A book of some kind from that Flint guy's ship. Been reading it ever since."

"What's it about?"

Axel shrugged. "Don't know. Didn't really care to ask honestly."

Shepard gave him a flat look. "Aren't you there older brother basically? Shouldn't you care to ask."

"Don't always have to know everything they're doing you know." Axel said.

"Seems really interesting." Shepard noted. "They can't pull away from it."

"Maybe you should ask them yourself."

"Maybe I will."

There was a brief pause between them both.

"Are you going to-"

"In a bit." Shepard said. "But since you're here, may as well check up on you."

"May as well?" Axel repeated. "Geez, don't make it sound like a chore."

"That's not what I meant and you know it." Shepard shot back, getting a chuckle out of him.

"I know, I know, just easy to mess with you is all."

"Clearly." Shepard said, flicking his forehead.

"What the-" No. VIII rubbed his head in surprise. "What was that for?"

"Sorry, you just made it way too easy." Jane quipped with a smirk adorning her face.

Axel stared at the Commander before he himself smirked back at her. "Touché."

Shaking her head in amusement, she gazed over to the two teens who were reading this book and speaking to one another rather excitedly.

"Book must be something special for them to be like that." Jane commented.

"I bet."

"How are you holding up?"

Axel tilted his head in her direction with a confused expression.

"Uh… ok, I guess."

"Good, good."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Is that all or-"

"Oh God, you know that's not it." Jane snipped getting a chuckle out of Axel.

"Sure, whatever you say." Axel said, grinning widely at her.

She snorted, opting to lean against the wall by him.

This time, a more comfortable silence befell the two with both simply observing the Roxas and Xion while also sneaking glances at one another.

"I don't think this is the only reason you are going around to everyone." Axel spoke up after a few seconds.

"Not necessarily." Shepard admitted. "I know what's about to go down and what we're gonna go through in the coming hours. I just wanted to make sure everyone was ready for it."

"We are, Shepard." Axel assured. "We're ready for this."

"How can you be sure? Aren't you nervous at all?" Shepard asked, getting an amused scoff out of No. VIII.

He gazed at her expectantly when she blinked and realized what she had just said.

"Do you really think you guys don't have hearts?" Shepard suddenly asked, catching Axel off guard with such a question.

"What now?"

"I remember what you guys told me when you first came here." Shepard said, eyes turned back to the other two Normandy members in the black coat. "About how you guys don't have a heart, you don't have emotions or no existence. But…"

She gazed down at the ground with her face scrunched up in deep thought.

"But?" Axel said, waiting for her to continue.

"But from what I've seen from the three of you, I don't think that's true at all." Shepard said.

"What do you mean?"

"I've seen you all laugh, joke, get annoyed, get angry and sad."

"That's not real." Axel stated, his voice truly void of emotions. "That's just me pretending to remember what it was like to have those emotions. I don't… I don't really feel anything."

"Only you?" Shepard noted. "Then what about Roxas and Xion?"

Axel snorted to himself. "Those two are special."

"Yeah, I can tell. But why them and not you?"

"You said it yourself, Commander." Axel stated. "Everything any normal person could and should feel. They… they aren't like normal Nobodies."

"Yes, one has amnesia knowing absolutely nothing and the other is someone they just created on the spot." Shepard pointed out. "Which… I'm still trying to wrap my mind around."

"Welcome to our crazy world." Axel jokingly said.

"Yes, I know." Shepard remarked. "But why not you? Why do you think that you don't have a heart? I don't know if you've noticed but I've seen how you act around those two. How you're even behaving around the team."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Shepard was quiet, thinking over her words for a moment. When she had first met these three unusual beings, they had explained to her and the others their origins and what they were.

Many things went through her mind as she thought about these past weeks that have seemingly flown by, by this point.

When getting acquainted with Axel and Xion, she had noticed that their initial meetings held true to what the former had told them about being Nobodies.

Most of their interactions and conversations were cordial and friendly enough but…

She had always noticed how devoid and dead Axel's eyes truly were whenever she spoke with him.

It was unsettling to her.

That was until she saw the way they were around Roxas and Xion. There was something there. She knew it, she had seen it.

A glimmer of emotion that wasn't faked or an act. Something genuine.

And as time had gone on, she had begun to notice brief, nearly missable moments of that same spark when he was around the others.

"When you're with them," Shepard said, nodding her head over to whom she was referring to. "Do you really feel nothing?"

Axel was rather surprised by the sudden question and was about to deny it when he clamped his mouth shut and frowned.

The Flurry of Dancing Flames glanced over to the two that they had been observing, unable to hide a small smile at the sight of Xion excitedly pointing at something that caught her attention in the book. Roxas grinned widely a moment later, looking up at her and speaking excitedly with her nodding along.

"No… With them…" Axel sighed with a melancholy expression on his face. "Roxas and Xion. They're not like other Nobodies. What they've shown shouldn't be possible for Nobodies at all. With them… they make me feel… like I have a Heart."

Shepard blinked at that statement before she soon had a warm smile appear on her face which morphed into a more mischievous one.

"Daw, look at Axel the big softy." Shepard said, bumping her shoulder against his.

Axel 'hmphed', turning away with a smirk that Jane caught. "Yeah, basically handed that one to ya, didn't I?"

"You did." Shepard confirmed.

Snorting despite himself, he gazed over at Shepard with a small fond smile which the Spectre returned.

"Guess I should thank you."

"Thank me? For what?"

"For taking us in. For helping out Roxas while he was away." Axel listed off.

"No need to thank us. "Jane said, pinching his cheeks abruptly with Axel shoving her off.

"Don't make me burn your hair off." Axel threatened.

"You wouldn't even if you tried." Shepard shot back cheekily. "You like us too much by this point to do anything about it."

Axel kept up an intense face when it broke a moment later. "Alright, you survive this time."

"Lucky me." Shepard remarked, resuming their comfortable silence from earlier.

As they leaned upon the wall there side by side, Shepard recalled an earlier conversation the two of them had. Actually, it was one of the first ones the two shared now that she thought about it.

After they told them what they were, there was this lingering question on Shepard's mind that had been bothering her for some time now and she wasn't quite sure as to how to ask it.

She changed it last time as she felt it would be a bit rude if she were being honest with herself but now…

"Shepard."

"Huh?"

The Spectre shook her head, having realized she must have got into a daze of some kind.

She looked up at the slightly taller redhead who was gazing back down at her in confusion.

"You alright there, Shepard? You kinda had an intense look on your face for a moment."

"I did?" No. VIII nodded in confirmation. "Sorry. Just have a lot on my mind with everything going on right now."

"I could see that." Axel stated. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Don't think that'll help really." Shepard admitted. "I think just… getting it done will."

Axel smirked. "That's one way of putting it. Straightforward and to the point."

"There is one thing however that's been on my mind." Shepard held up a finger. "But I figure… maybe I'll ask you about it after we get through this all."

"Huh? What is it?"

"I'll ask you after we survive."

"There's a big chance of it being an if we survive."

"Oh well." Shepard said, pushing herself off the wall and turning to leave.

"Hey, now I really wanna know." Axel said, moving to follow her.

"Too bad."

"Get back here Shepard."

As the two redheads left the area, Xion and Roxas continued their time reading the book they had gotten from the Etherium galaxy.

"Form changes?" Roxas read aloud in intrigue.

"Wonder what those could do?" Xion asked aloud.

"It says here that they vary from Keyblade Wielder to Wielder, each one having a unique means in which they can access this ability." Roxas read aloud.

"Do you think our Keyblades can do that?" Xion questioned.

"Maybe." Roxas frowned thoughtfully. "Seems like we can."

"Huh… guess we might have a chance to test it out soon." Xion wryly commented with Roxas snorting and nodding in agreement.

Suddenly, a small gurgling groan came from Xion with her face lighting up slightly in embarrassment.

"Heh." Xion gave off a bashful smile. "Guess we've been at it so long; I didn't realize I got an appetite."

"You go on, I'm not going anywhere." Roxas said with a smile as Xion nodded, jumping out from her seat and running off to get something to eat.

Roxas returned his attention to the book when he heard footsteps coming up from his side. Looking up from the page, Roxas saw Tali approaching him and he gave her a small smile.

"Tali." Roxas said pleasantly.

"Hey Roxas." She said softly, sitting downright next to him on the other side that Xion didn't occupy a moment ago. "What are you doing?"

"Just reading this book is all." Roxas said, gesturing to it. "It's amazing."

"That's the book from the Etherium, right?" Roxas nodded. "What's it about?"

"Keyblades." The Sandy-blond haired teen answered. "It's filled with information about the Keyblade I never even thought of."

"Really?" Tali's interest was piqued. "What's it say?"

"A whole bunch of stuff." Roxas said. "How we can utilize magic differently, creating our own styles, everything."

Tali smiled underneath her helmet at the excited state Roxas appeared to be in.

He seemed entirely unphased by the coming conflict, acting as if this was just another mission. It honestly made her a bit envious at his state of mind.

Both he and Xion and even Axel appeared unbothered with what was about to go down. She knew this was it with Saren.

The Commander knew it. The whole crew knew it.

Yet Roxas, Axel and Xion were nonplussed by it.

They were either supremely confident or uncaring for the coming battle.

Tali found it both enviable but also comforting.

She knew that Shepard had unshakable faith in the crew and in the mission but seeing Roxas having the same sentiment set her heart and mind at ease.

With a small chuckle, the Quarian found herself adjusting her seat to scoot closer to him and leaned her head against his shoulder.

Roxas looked down at her in surprise, feeling her press herself closer against him.

"Tali?" there was a slight sense of worry in Roxas' tone. The last time they were in this position, he up and left her and the crew.

"Don't worry, Roxas." Tali said, lightly squeezing his arm. "Let's just… stay like this for a bit."

He felt her form become lax slightly, arms wrapping around his own.

Roxas simply obliged, leaning back into his seat whilst Tali readjusted herself to make sure she was comfortable.

She let out a content sigh, feeling herself relax more as she leaned upon Roxas.

"It's strange." Tali murmured.

"What is?" Roxas asked, looking down at her.

She shrugged slightly. "I dunno, I just… feel glad that we have this moment together. Just felt like we haven't had a moment alone together for a while now."

Now that Roxas thought about it for a moment, it really was just him and Tali at the start of all this.

Sure, beforehand he had Axel and Xion back with the Organization.

But for a while, it was just him and Tali. And it was those several short days that they had spent together.

Even after joining Shepard aboard the Normandy, Roxas and Tali stuck close by each other for the most part until after a few missions together. Sure they were still spending time with one another but it was more and more with the rest of the crew.

Then things just felt as though things went off the rails after Noveria with him going off to the World That Never Was, learning the truth, meeting Sora, bringing back Axel and Xion and so on and so forth. Since then, everything was just a none stop sprint across the cosmos.

It was rather strange now that he considered how unusually calm he felt right now in this situation.

Sure there was this underlying feeling that this would be it in their pursuit of Saren but for Roxas, he honestly didn't feel any nervousness or anticipation for the battle to come.

It was just another fight.

Without even realizing it, Roxas leaned his head against Tali's with the Quarian blushing beneath her helmet at the action but smiled all the same as she squeezed his arm gently for a brief moment.

They stayed like that for several minutes until...

"Five minutes ETA to the Mu Relay." Joker called out from the comms.

Tali shifted slightly with Roxas raising his head up, gazing at the ceiling.

"Guess it's time." he murmured with Tali only nodding as she pulled away from the human who became her first friend when she first began her pilgrimage.

They were about to face off against Saren, at long last cornering him.

She only hoped they weren't too late.

Just before they were about to head off to get ready, Tali reached forward and gently took No. XIII's hand into her own.

"Roxas…" Tali said in a soft voice.

"Tali?"

"Whatever happens on Ilos, I just wanted to say… thank you." Tali said, a serene smile under her helmet that Roxas was able to see via her eyes.

"For what?" Roxas asked in confusion.

Tali giggled, shaking her head as she walked ahead. "Everything."

Tilting his head at her response, Roxas could only stare at the Quarian who looked back at him with Tali laughing once more.

"Come on, Roxas." She said, the Nobody blinking at her quickly followed after her as both them and the rest of the crew met at the front of the ship.

-Scene Cut-

Passing through the Mu Relay, the Normandy was heading straight towards its destination.

Yet there seemed to be a bit of a problem.

"Uh… Commander?" Joker called out. "We've got company."

Shepard had been near the airlock when the pilot called out to her.

"What is it?" She asked immediately while several others were behind her being Liara, Kaidan, Ashley and Tali.

"A fleet of Geth ships around Ilos." Said the pilot.

"Have their sensors picked us up yet?" Liara asked, instantly becoming serious.

"No, the stealth systems are engaged. Unless we get close enough for a visual, they won't have any idea we're here."

Pressly was working the systems beside Joker when he noticed something. "Picking up some strange readings from the planet's surface," he announced.

"Joker, get us down there." Jane ordered. "Lock in on those coordinates."

"Negative on that, Commander," Her XO told her.

"Why?"

"The nearest landing zone's two klicks away."

"We'll never make it in time on foot." Kaidan said, arms crossed and frowning.

"There's gotta be a closer spot." Said Ashley.

"There is nowhere closer! I've looked." Pressly snapped.

They needed another option, but what…

"What about the Mako?" Jane asked. "Would that work?"

"You all need at least a hundred meters of open terrain to pull off a drop like that." Pressley protested. "The most I can find near Saren is twenty."

"Twenty meters?" Ashley repeated. "No way we can make a drop from that."

"We have to try." Liara said.

Both Kaidan and Ashley looked at the Asari. Could she not see the idea was a problem?

"Find another landing zone!" Kaidan ordered Pressly.

"There is no other landing zone!" the XO snapped back.

Tali was looking at the readout. "He's right. The descent angle is too steep!"

"It's our only option." Liara argued.

"It's not an option. It's a suicide run!" Ashley told her, getting annoyed at the fact rather than her. "We don't-"

"I can do it!" Joker cut through the chatter.

The argument quickly ended when they heard Joker say that.

"Joker?"

"I can do it." Said the pilot once more, confidence being heard in his voice.

Jane nodded, leaned in and activated the ship's intercom. "Team, gear up and head down to the Hangar Bay." She ordered. Ending the transmission, she turned to Joker. "Drop us right on top of that bastard!"

"Will do, Commander."

The team was soon assembled in the Hangar Bay around the Mako with them all being geared up and ready for combat.

They had stocked up on supplies courtesy of Mosh the Moogle and were now just counting down the seconds as Joker flew closer and closer to the surface of Ilos.

"Alright, to put it plainly, this will be a danger-close drop." Shepard announced. "The moment we land on the planet, expect fierce and heavy resistance both in and out of the Mako."

"Right." Coursed a number of individuals.

"This is an all hands on deck." Shepard said. "Except for you two."

"Huh?" Stitch, who was jittery at the prospect of going down to fight froze with his arms falling.

"Why aren't we coming along?" Della asked in bewilderment.

"I need you two to stay with Joker."

"What for?" Della argued. "Didn't you say this was an all hands on deck scenario?"

"I did but while we're here, someone needs to be both our eyes in the skies and if need be, head back to the Citadel pronto." Jane stated.

"It'll take too long if we use the Mass Relays."

"I'm not saying you guys use those, I want you to use the Gummi drive to get there." Jane said to her. "Didn't you say that certain trips can go a whole lot faster with the navigation system already registering the destination."

"I did- Oh~ I get it." Della said in realization.

"Yes. I don't know if Saren will get to the Conduit before us, so I want you three to get straight to the Citadel and help out the best you all can." Jane stated.

"You got it, Shepard." Della said with a mock salute.

Stitch gave an affirming grunt as he momentarily said 'good luck' to the rest of them.

It wasn't long before everyone moved into their respective positions for what is about to come.

In all honesty, it was an extremely tight fit for nearly the entire group inside of the Mako. Seven people riding inside of it is not something that should ever be done ever again. Especially with one Krogan passenger counting as two regular ones.

And it would've been impossible to cram in ten had it not been the fact that the three Nobody teammates had their own method of riding the soon to be dropped Mako.

"You guys sure you'll be alright there?" Shepard asked, gazing up at the trio that stood atop the Mako.

Well… Xion and Roxas did. Axel opted to casually sit upon it in his usual posture with one leg kicked up for a knee to act as the rest for his arm.

"We're pretty sure, Shepard." Roxas said with complete confidence.

"This isn't just a simple cruising session like what went on in Noveria, Roxas. We're being dropped hundreds of feet above ground." Garrus pointed out.

"Yeah with both you and Xion clinging onto the Mako for dear life." Ash added, not really like the prospect of the three of them just hanging on for dear life as they dropped down from on high.

"We have our own landing strategies." Axel assured with his trademark cocky smirk.

"Just trust us, please." Xion insisted.

Shepard nodded as she had to readjust herself as she was squished in between Wrex and Garrus in the back. Liara and Tali were not all that great as they had to adjust themselves by the sides.

The only ones unaffected were Kaidan and Ashley. For Kaidan, he got the rare opportunity of driving. For Ashley, she won her spot of shotgun rather quickly.

Hopefully once they make their landing, Garrus will move from his cramped spot and position himself in the gunner seat, freeing some needed room for the rest.

"Makes me wish that we could've had a far bigger Mako model." Kaidan remarked.

"Can't blame Anderson as he probably didn't expect this situation to happen." Jane pointed out.

"Don't worry, this won't be for long." Kaidan said as he had the Mako primed and ready.

"Hopefully, this drop won't be too painful once we make contact." Tali fidgeted out.

"Especially since we have such a small window to land it." Liara nervously pointed out. "I hope this turns out alright…"

"It probably won't." Wrex dryly said.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence-"

And whatever else could be said was immediately cut off when Kaidan got the green light and slammed the gas pedal, sending the Mako out of the Normandy and fell right towards Saren's location on Ilos.

A lot of the passengers let out their own respective gasps while bracing themselves for what's to come. They did feel themselves rise in their seats a little before the lieutenant engaged the micro-thrusters, pushing them all back into their seats hard.

The feeling stopped when the Mako landed hard on the ground, but they were jumbled around in their seats.

"Everyone good?" Kaidan asked.

The others within the Mako chorused their own responses.

"Worse. Landing. Ever. Lt." Ashley said drearily.

"Hey, consider yourself lucky that it wasn't the Commander driving. Then it would've been worse." Garrus defended on Kaidan's behalf.

"Agreed."

Jane merely glared at them. "I'm right here, you know."

"We know, we're making a point here." Garrus said without any shame in doing so.

"At least we're fine. That's all that matters." Tali muttered out.

"Where's Saren?"

Kaidan looked at the Mako's radar. "From what I'm reading, he's right ahead of us."

"Good. Now we just need to hope Saren didn't close any doors behind him."

"Knowing our luck, he probably did."

Exiting out of the Mako one by one, they were soon greeted with the sight of Xion landing not far away from them as she performed a recovery roll. Axel had his chakrams out and used the flames to propel himself down as he soon landed on his feet. And gliding down not far behind was Roxas.

"Had fun up there?" Jane asked.

"I did." Said Xion.

"Same here." Roxas answered as well.

"Did you guys?" Cheekily asked Axel.

"No… we didn't." Was Garrus's flat response. "Unlike you, we can't fly."

"Well it was more gliding if anything." Defended Roxas.

"Uh-huh, right." Garrus flatly said.

"To be fair, I can't fly." Xion pointed out. "I had to just position myself on the massive drop."

Axel merely chuckled as he ignored some of the bland stares they received from the others. Even Wrex joined in on the little bit of humor.

The group soon took note of the rust-colored foliage all around them. It wasn't long before their attention was focused past the tank, where the team saw a large blast door -which was three times the Mako's height- for some sort of bunker. The metal had rusted in a number of places, but most notably was that it was sealed shut, with no visible way to open it.

"Whelp, there's no way we're getting past there right now." Said Ashley.

"We have to get inside of this bunker before Saren reaches the Conduit." Kaidan stated.

"There is no way we're getting past that door with brute force." Said Wrex.

"Saren found some way to open it." Garrus plainly stated.

"There must be some kind of security override somewhere in this complex." Tali noted.

"Luckily for us, we don't have to find that as we have ourselves our expert locksmiths." Shepard said, gazing over to their aforementioned locksmiths who were about to call for their Keyblades and unlock the gate before them when the ground around them began trembling.

"Oh no." Ashley said aloud. "What is it this time?"

"What do you think?" Axel sarcastically asked, wisps of fire wafting off of him.

As the area around them began to shake about even more violently, eventually, the source of these tremors exploded out from the ground behind the Mako.

It flipped about in the air until it landed on the ground to reveal its form before the Normandy crew.

-Insert Kingdom Hearts: The Deep End-

"Oh you gotta be fucking shitting me with this one." Ashley let out in dread.

"Keelah." Tali whispered in slight fright at the Heartless before them.

It was large to say the least, twice the size of the Mako.

A six-armed beast of quite the size over them, it boasted black and brown segmented body with a golden head that bore a striking resemblance to a cobra. On all its arms with a white sleeve trimmed with gold, a puffy white tunic with puffy gold sleeves over its unusually shaped upper torso with a white, gold and turquoise trimmed pair of pants over its lower body.

A turquoise colored sash was around its waste, decorated with orange tassels and a gold apron that had the Heartless Emblem on it.

All six of its arms were three fingered talons with the center ones each wielding large Khopeshes. They were large, silver crescent blades with gold trimmed holes on one end and lethal hooks on the other.

A Kurt Zisa.

"Jesus, how're we supposed to fight that thing?!" Ashley exclaimed.

They had fought against a multitude of Heartless by this point and had gotten a great deal of experience and feel of combatting most of them. Even some of the bigger and more stronger ones they could figure out how to beat.

But this one felt different. It's imposing size and frame overall made it a terrifying sight to behold yet the Nobody trio stood strong with their weapons drawn.

"We need to take this guy out now." Roxas said aloud. "He won't leave us alone till we take it out."

"Gee ya think?" Shepard couldn't help but retort but had her gun up and Biotics ready.

The same was done for the Biotic users of the team, the group preparing for a difficult ordeal.

Just as they had done so, the Kurt Zisa suddenly hovered up into the air and waved its free arms about with the lower two having orbs form as a large magical glyph surrounded it's body.

The team was then surrounded by glowing spheres that morphed into triangles before a mist now permeated around them all.

"The hell?" Wrex said aloud.

"What the-" Kaidan exclaimed, feeling his Biotics abruptly shut down.

"MOVE!" Roxas yelled out, with everyone barely getting out of the way as the Heartless spiraled forward with its curved swords coming in to cleave them into pieces.

Roxas and Xion were quick to act by blocking the buzzsaw-like attack on them before they were knocked back some distance away. They were quick to recover and went to cast Barrier, but for some reason it didn't form at all, resulting in them being sent even further.

When it started coming in close to the others, the biotics in the group flared their power and went to form a barrier.

Yet for some reason, it didn't form at all.

"I can't use my magic!" Xion cried out, thrusting her Keyblade forward in vain with no fire, blizzard or any spell coming out from her weapon.

"My biotics! Why am I struggling so much?!" Liara exclaimed in terror, having never felt such a sensation.

"What the fuck is going on?!" Shepard shouted, experiencing the same thing.

Realization dawned on Roxas on what is going on. "Silence…"

"What?"

The group had to jump and/or roll out of the way to avoid the blades crashing down on them. Xion and Roxas soon had to block the next strikes with their bladed weapons before holding their ground so they wouldn't get cleaved in two in the process. Putting in everything they got, the two Keybearers shoved their opponent's blades away before striking at the Heartless' legs for a brief moment of time.

"It casted Silence on us, sealing away our magics and even biotics." Roxas eyed the pair of energy orbs being held by two of the Heartless' hands. "Those orbs… We need to break those orbs so things can more or less go back to normal."

"And how do you know that?" Garrus asked in an incredulous manner.

"We read it in a book." Said Xion.

…..

…..

"Are you kidding us?"

"Wish we were."

Whipping out his gravity hammer, Wrex charged at their towering opponent. "Then come on!"

"Tali, check your Omni-Tool." Shepard said, running in a wide circle as she began to fire at the Kurt Zisa with Roxas, Axel, Xion and Wrex running towards the Heartless.

The rest were doing the same, keeping their distance whilst the heavy hitters tried their best to deal some damage in.

Bringing out her Omni-Tool, Tali felt the now familiar hum of energy that coursed around her arm.

Grinning to herself, the Quarian felt the charge up of her Omni-Tool before she thrusted her hand forward and fired off a succession of large Omni-Bolts at the Heartless.

The bolts danced across the Heartless' body and whilst it appeared to have no visible effect physically, they did notice it had noticeably slowed down with its head even flinching back as one of the bolts struck one of its eyes.

It proved to be effective enough as the mechanized Heartless flailed, even a little bit.

Seeing this, Roxas reared his Keyblade back and flung it at one of the orbs in a Strike Raid. His Oathkeeper slashed right through the orb, destroying it with the Heartless rearing its head at him.

This proved to be a mistake as Xion now took the chance to destroy the other orb in its hand.

Jumping up into the air, Xion's form glowed momentarily and she became a slight blur as she literally thrusted her Keyblade forward and became a spinning missile that cleaved through the other orb in the Heartless' hand.

With the orbs destroyed, those with extra capabilities felt themselves return to normal. The team also saw how the orb dispersing caused what could only be described as a short circuit as the Kurt Zisa collapsed onto the ground, letting everyone else have a free for all on the mechanized opponent.

They finally took this opportunity to go all out.

While Wrex flared his biotics to help speed up the swings of his gravity hammer, Kaidan and Liara threw the occasional Biotic Throw. Jane, however, concentrated on using her biotics to go into a momentary state of Haste. Rushing in close, she joined Roxas and Xion in cutting the Heartless up with her Omni-blade.

The Heartless' snake-like head whirled around, trying to snap at the nearby opponents. Said body part was met with the occasional Keyblade or gravity hammer swing to bat it away.

Garrus kept firing at it from afar with the Biotic users constantly having to throw out stasis fields to keep the Heartless from flinging its head about wildly.

As they continued to fire and attack the large Heartless, the Gunnery Chief of the group heard something out of the corner of her ear.

Taking a momentary look at the nearby pathways towards their location, she saw something that would prove problematic in their current fight.

"We've got company!" Ash shouted, turning her gun in said direction and immediately firing her inferno rounds at new enemies running for them.

Some of the others momentarily broke their attention away from Kurt Zisa as they saw droves of Geth coming their way. And at that moment, the mechanized Heartless got back onto its feet before it started floating in the air as a barrier flared around it's being.

"Son of a bitch." Shepard said, momentarily making sure her Biotics were still working.

She was glad to know that they were.

"We're gonna get surrounded." Tali cried out.

"You guys focus on the Geth, we've got big boy here." Said Axel, throwing his flame covered chakrams at Kurt Zisa's barrier as his two Keyblade companions casted Thundara on it.

"Tali." Shepard called out to her. "Take Ash, Kaidan, Garrus and Liara to beat those Geth back."

"What about-"

"We'll be fine Tali." Roxas shouted, jumping away from a series of fireballs sent at him by the Heartless.

Before they fully broke away, Roxas casted Curaga on the whole group, having them momentarily recover from whatever injuries they recently received. Feeling healed, the team broke up to take care of their respective task at hand.

Tali instantly initiated an overload at the Geth closest to them, the rest of the group quickly gunning them down in rapid succession before spotting a cluster of Armatures coming their way.

With the others, they were now pursuing the Heartless that still had its shield up with them using all their magic and Biotics at their disposal to bring it down.

When the Heartless floated some distance away, it raised two of its arms and something rose out of the ground.

It was mistaken at first as just a simple breeze, yet it proved to be a mistake as the so-called breeze became rather harsh. In mere moments, miniature tornadoes were formed and struck it's present opponents.

The present team were sent back, crashing into nearby formations, either organically or naturally made.

"Alright, that's it." Axel declared, jumping back and vanishing in a flurry of flames.

A moment later, Axel appeared behind the Kurt Zisa and flew over it with pillars of flames following in his wake.

The shield around the Heartless burst with Kurt Zisa collapsing onto the ground once more, it's present opponents took no time in wasting in unleashing their assault.

Axel flung his Chakrams forward, the spinning disk like weapons surrounded in flames as it heavily damaged the Heartless.

Xion, Roxas and Wrex joined in shortly after, clobbering the Heartless with their respective weapons with Shepard opting to utilize her Biotic gun to inflict damage upon it.

Once more, the Kurt Zisa flung its head about managing to strike back its attackers several times yet they managed to recover and continue wailing upon it until it had enough.

When it rose once more, the towering Heartless raised two of its arms as a large magical glyph surrounded it's form.

"Here it comes again!"

Upon Roxas' warning, Kurt Zisa casted Silence once more, having those with magic and biotic capabilities to become hampered once again.

Once done, the large Heartless leaped into the air and brought it's curved swords down.

"Scatter!"

The present group dived and jumped out of the way, avoiding being cut down and crushed. And before they could recover, they had to move once more as Kurt Zisa jumped once more and rapidly spun in a buzzsaw-like manner.

Running all over the place was not entirely great for the present Normandy members.

The area was not as spacious with walls, rocky pillars and boulders around them making maneuverability slightly difficult.

Not to mention the Mako not far away added some more complications in terms of spacing.

The only small reprieve of sorts was the splitting of the team as Tali's group was fighting off the Geth that were nearby.

They were fighting them off with vicious efficiency, each teammate taking out Geth left, right and center around them.

With the rest, they had to constantly be on the defensive as the Kurt Zisa was adamant about them not getting close to the orbs it had in its hands.

Roxas needed something to help turn the tide of this battle. They were getting nowhere, especially with the buzzsaw-like assault they were receiving.

Watching as the Heartless once again shifted into a horizontal shape, it began spinning its way down towards them.

Roxas's eyes narrowed as the Heartless drew closer with the others scattering whilst he stayed in his spot.

"Roxas, what're you-"

In a burst of speed, No. XIII jumped to the side and swung his Keyblade in time and destroyed one of the orbs.

The Heartless immediately shifted into a more vertical shape and went down to attack the Keybearer.

Axel, however, was already in front of his friend and even though his magic was handicapped he could still conjure fire as it was his affinity both actively and passively.

A fiery shield erupted above him, the Nobody gritting his teeth slightly as he held back the endless spinning torrent of blades coming down upon him. But he held firm, managing to repel the buzz-saw attack.

Mustering much strength into his arms, Axel pushed the large Heartless back, leaving it open for Roxas to knock it back some more with Oathkeeper.

When things were stable with the buzzsaw-like assault having ended, the others went back into attacking Kurt Zisa, primarily the remaining Silence orb within its grasp.

When said orb broke, Axel wasted no time in unleashing a powerful Firaga spell onto his opponent.

"Burn, baby!" Yelled Axel.

A torrent of flames erupted from his chakrams, striking the head of the Heartless with him not letting up on his onslaught.

Xion dashed forward, grasping her Keyblade by her side as light seeped off her weapon with an undercurrent of magical wind flowing around it as well.

In mere moments, she was propelled forward like a rocket, zooming across the battlefield as she let out a strong yell.

Hurling her weapon forward, the wind/light encompassed Keyblade cleaved right through the towering Heartless as a large blast of air nearly knocked everyone back a number of feet away. The attack was even heard by the others who were still combating the Geth a good distance away as if a very loud bomb went off.

"Keelah, what was that?" Tali muttered out, momentarily glancing back in time to see Xion landing on the ground behind the Heartless.

"Looks like Xion just pulled off an explosive strike." Garrus quipped, earning a flat look out of Ashley.

"That one sucked, Vakarian and you know it."

Back with the group fighting the Heartless, they had noticed it had yet to move after receiving such a blow from No. XIV so they moved to capitalize on their opening by throwing in everything they could.

Wrex had a biotic assisted boost courtesy of Shepard, flying high into the air and coming down hard with his gravity hammer dealing a mighty blow to the head.

Shepard followed suit a moment later, charging her Biotics into her gun and firing a beam that burst into multiple Biotic spears that rained down upon the Heartless.

Axel unleashed another pillar of fire, coming straight out from his Chakrams with Roxas adding on to the attack with light infused Keyblade slash.

Xion jumped in one last time and utilizing her move from earlier, threw her Keyblade forward which resulted in her spinning about with blades of light and wind coming off her form as she delivered the final blow to the Heartless.

When the dust settled, Kurt Zisa flinched erratically as a metallic shriek emanated from it's very being.

The mechanized Heartless then staggered forward, starting to collapse bit by bit. The others ran towards the sides as neither of them wanted to be flattened by the fallen Heartless.

The moment the last of it fell, it's body started decomposing into darkness as a large glowing heart was freed from its body and floated away.

When things were settling down, Wrex let out a bellow of a laugh. "Oh this was the most fun I've had in these past days."

"It's not over yet you know." Axel pointed out, casually resting one of his Chakrams around his shoulder. "We still got a megalomaniac to take out."

"And the others are still combating the Geth as we speak."

Upon the mention of this, they heard a number of steps coming their way.

Acting rationally, the group went on the defensive, thinking the Geth must've breached the others' position and were coming in to attack them.

Instead, what they saw was the return of their friends with some scrapes and bruises on them.

"Damn, what did we miss here?" Ashley asked, noticing the damaged area around them.

"What was that explosion we heard? I doubt any of our bombs are capable of such a blast."

"Little runt here pulling off quite the move." Said Wrex, smacking Xion in the back, making her stumble forward.

"Wrex." Xion said with her cheeks puffed.

"Ah come off it, kid. You could pull those crazy moves off and can't take a pat on the back?" Wrex asked rhetorically with a knowing grin which made her look away with a 'hmph', making the Krogan laugh at her expense.

As this went on, the others quickly consumed some Ethers and Potions to help restore their health and reserves.

"Alright, the area's clear of hostiles." Kaidan pointed out.

"Nothing else is coming it's way as far as I can see." Garrus said, momentarily looking around the area with his visor detecting no enemies nearby.

"Good." Shepard gazed over at the Keybearer duo. "If you two can do the honors…"

Xion was the first to act, aiming her Keyblade at the rusted bunker door. Once light gathered at its tip, it shot out and struck the surface. The keyhole symbol was shown soon after before it died down. Moments later, the doorway opened up for them all… albeit being rather loud.

"Man something clearly needs an oil tune up." Axel commented, rubbing his ears as they were ringing from the doors opening.

"No kidding."

"Alright, people. Time to go!" Said Jane, prior to her helping get the Mako back onto its tires.

Most of the team quickly filed into the Mako while the Nobody trio quickly hitched onto the vehicle in question. Once everything was ready, the land vehicle took off.

"You guys doing alright up there?" She asked through the open window.

"Doing fine Shepard." Said Roxas.

"Same with me." Spoke Xion.

"Just keep driving while Roxas, Xion and I take care of whatever troops Saren has lying around here." Axel assured, Chakrams at the ready.

"Axel's got the right idea. Saren already has a head start." Liara brought up. "We have to go find him before he reaches the Conduit."

"Unless he found it, then we're just walking into a trap." Ash grimly pointed out.

"It's a chance we'll have to take." Shepard finished off before closing up the window.

When driving along the way, Liara murmured under her breath, studying what she could see from the nearby window. "This bunker… This is a Prothean bunker! I've spent my entire life studying them, but I never could imagine discovering anything like this!"

"Careful, Liara, you're drooling." Tali jokes.

"I am not!" Liara quickly said, blushing in embarrassment.

"You basically are. Worse than the times when you got all those Prothean Artifacts." Garrus stated with a Turian equivalent of a smirk.

"Give her some slack, she's just overwhelmed in seeing this firsthand without any competition inspecting the place before her." Kaidan jested with a chuckle.

"Perhaps when this is all done, you could drag Della along to study this place." Ash suggested.

"Why do you think I would want to bring her here?" Liara questioned. "In case you forgot, she plans on going home sometime after we take down Saren."

"She's an adventurer and a pseudo-archeologist to boot. This is probably her field to work in." Jane said.

"And I wasn't saying she would have to come here immediately. Just pointing it out as something you two could do later." Ash said.

Liara hummed as she no doubt figured her fowl-person friend would consider doing such a thing when the opportunity presented itself.

They continued to drive through another tunnel with water splashing underneath the tires when Kaidan noted something.

"What's up with these things on the walls?" He asked.

"They look like containers or something." Garrus said, rubbing his chin as he occasionally gazed at the strange contraptions.

"Any ideas, Liara?" Ashley asked. "You're the archaeologist here."

"They look like stasis pods," Liara surmised with a calculating gaze instead of wide-eye wonder. "This bunker might have been the last refuge of their entire species. The Protheans must've tried keeping themselves alive through cryogenic freezing."

"Are you saying that we may have frozen Protheans all around us?" Tali asked from where she sat.

"Yes, I think so." Liara's eyes had a hopeful light in them.

"Don't know about you guys, but something must've gone wrong. They look dead to me." Wrex commented.

"Great~ We're driving through a literal tomb here. Not morbid at all." Muttered the Gunnery Chief.

"Guys! We got company!" Said Roxas over the comms, firing a Fira spell at an incoming rocket.

Xion and Axel mirrored the same action when a volley of them were coming their way.

"Garrus-"

"Already on it."

The Turian whirled the gun around and took aim. Doing so, he saw a couple of Geth Rocket troopers not far ahead with some Heartless and a Geth Armature amongst them. He fired everything at the larger synthetic as the shields were being taken down.

Meanwhile, the three Nobodies quickly got to work.

Leaving the Mako's hull, the three rushed forward in order to cleave through the Heartless and the other Geth. By the time their work was done, the Armature was broken in a pile of scrapheap. The Mako drew in close, having the trio quickly hop on as they continued their trek through the bunker.

The Mako surged through another waterway tunnel before they came across what appeared to be an energy shield. Shepard was forced to hit the brakes, making the land vehicle come to an eventual stop.

"What's going on, Skipper?" Asked Ashley.

Shepard soon rolled the Mako back, but soon hit something. Using the Mako's camera, she saw that behind them was another energy shield.

"Think we finally came to that trap we thought Saren must've had for us."

Garrus fired off the cannon and guns at the energy wall in front of them. Neither of them worked.

The Nobodies soon contributed as they blasted against the massive kinetic barrier as well with some spells and once more, nothing worked at all.

"That's one powerful shield." Commented the Turian. "Whatever Saren used, it's good."

"I don't think Saren is behind this." Liara suggested.

"She's right. If it was him, I bet he would've come here personally to see our demise." Axel commented.

Xion then took note of something nearby. "Don't know if it's a coincidence that we stopped beside this one door."

"If not Saren, then who?" Came Roxas' inquiry.

"No clue."

The two Keybearers were about to use their weapons to forcibly open up the barrier when they soon heard something over the comms.

"▄▅▂ ▄▅▂▃- *Static* -"

"Hey, you guys hear that?" Roxas asked, looking back to the team.

"Huh?"

"I'm picking up something on the comms."

Shepard turned on the comm channel on the Mako, having everyone hear it from within the vehicle. Even Axel had to listen in from his own Omni-tool.

*Static* "- *Static* *Static* -""

"Sounds like some kind of message." Kaidan noted. "But I don't recognize the language."

"It's probably in Prothean." Liara informed them with her theory. "This recording must be 50,000 years old. No wonder we cannot understand it."

Jane, however, blinked in surprise as she heard more of the transmission. "Really? Weird… Cause I can recognize some of the wording."

The team now looked at her in confusion.

"You can understand that?" Liara asked.

Shepard scrunched her face up in concentration, listening to whatever this transmission was. "Yeah. It's all broken up, but I can more or less understand it's a warning against the Reaper Invasion."

Liara brightened up on what the Commander just said. "Of course. Between the beacons and the Cipher, an understanding of the Prothean language would have been transferred into your mind."

More of the broken, garbled Prothean chatter was heard.

"What's it saying now?" Axel said aloud. "Can you make out anything else useful?"

Shepard refocused her attention on the static coming out from their Omni-tools and earpieces as she tried to pay attention to the given Prothean language over the comms. "All I'm getting is something about the Conduit with the Citadel… for some reason. Can't get anything else from it with how degraded it is."

"So then, what now?" Kaidan asked.

"Perhaps some of us could investigate the source of that transmission. It did come up too suddenly for our liking." Liara suggested.

"My thoughts exactly."

"We should go check it out." Shepard decided, getting up from her seat. "Liara, Axel, Ashley, Wrex, you're with me. Everyone else, stay in or by the Mako and keep an eye out."

-Scene Cut-

All was well by the Citadel, ships coming to and from the center of galactic civilization.

Everything was peaceful, despite the bit of high alert being made some time prior due to the Normandy fleeing the station.

A small warrant was made due to what occurred, making Citadel forces wanting to bring the ship in-in order to question those who essentially performed Grand Theft Cruiser.

In mere moments, the time of peace soon broke apart when a swirl of white light was formed in the air. Not long after, the Normandy shot out of the portal as it disbursed soon after.

"Alright." Said Joker. "Gummi jump has been successful."

"Second time doing this after the simulations and things are looking pretty good." Pressly commented as he looked over the systems. "Nothing appears wrong from what I'm seeing."

"Then it's good to see you guys did an excellent job integrating the Gummi-tech into the ship." Della commented from the nearby co-pilot's chair.

"Can't take all the credit as we had to follow your recordings and work from there."

Della puffed out her chest in pride as she wore a wide smirk.

Soon enough a series of pings were heard in the bridge, indicating someone was reaching out to them through their communication channel.

"Wonder who that would be." Joker answered the transmission and spoke. "This is the SSV Normandy, who is it that I'm speaking to?"

"This is the Destiny Ascension." Came a female voice on the other end. "Normandy, be advised a warrant for your immediate apprehension has been issued by the Council and we would ask that you stand down to avoid any unnecessary conflict."

Joker groaned aloud through the comms.

"I really wish I could do that but conflict is coming the Citadels way no matter how you shake it." Joker replied in complete honesty.

"No matter how we shake it? What is that suppo- urgh, human expressions." The Asari on the other end groaned out. "What do you mean by Citadel coming to the conflict?"

Joker recognized the underlying threat in the Asari's tone.

"Oh, it's not from us, if you're wondering." Joker quickly said. "In fact, we got sent back to make sure we can help hold down the Citadel for as long as possible. We're basically the advance defense force."

There was a very clear scoff that was heard by the pilot of the Normandy on the other end.

"Advance defense Force?" the Asari repeated in disbelief. "And what in Goddesses name are you here to defend us from?"

As if by the decision of Murphy decided to enact his one Law…

Coming out from seemingly nowhere, multiple Gummi ships that had the emblem of the Heartless were visible to be seen by all.

A moment later, a contingent of Geth Cruisers came out of FTL and immediately moved in to engage the Citadel defense fleet.

"That." Joke dryly said, alarms blaring in the Normandy as they prepared for battle.

The pilot of the frigate angled his ship around, facing the oncoming enemies. He looked over by his side to see Della in the co-pilot's chair.

"Della, get to your ship and inform Stitch to get into his."

Della was already on her feet and running out of the bridge. "Don't have to tell me twice, Joker!"

Flipping on the ship's comms, Joker called out a report. "Everyone, brace for evasive maneuvers! This is not a drill, people!"

-Insert Kingdom Hearts III: Lock, Load, and Blast!-

With the warning given out, the Normandy went into action.

Unleashing their guns, Joker unleashed hell onto the new arrivals as they soon returned fire.

The Heartless Gummi ships swerved around most of the incoming fire while the others were starting to get mowed down.

Swerving and maneuvering in the air, the Alliance ship was able to evade as much fire as possible before bombarding a couple of Geth Ships trying to take it down. Soon enough, they were shot down by a couple of energy missiles the Normandy released that had devastating effects.

Readying to get back in action, the Flight Lieutenant soon noticed something.

Joker merely smirked. "Really? Lining up for me? Why you shouldn't have." Unleashing a volley of fire onto the aligned Heartless ships he let out a small chuckle. "I swear this is like Galaga and Space Invaders rolled into one."

Of course this didn't last long as the Gummi-Heartless broke formation and went on the offensive when the Citadel forces were called into action.

From his seat, Joker let out a small sigh of frustration when he saw a number of allied ships already taken down by the Heartless, given how unprepared they were.

Joker then saw a notification on his console, requesting to open up the hangar door. Complying with the request, the helmsman had it open up before closing it up some moments later.

Stitch and Della were deployed moments later, the two smaller ships rocketing forward at full speeds whilst firing everything they had at the Gummi Heartless and Geth that flew right back at them.

Della angled her ship into a spin, flicking a switch to let out a stream of electrified fire as she flew through and around the wave of enemies with multiple Heartless and Geth fighters being caught and destroyed in her stream.

Stitch twisted a lever within his ship, the front of his vessel shifting into a boxier, bulkier bumper. With cackling glee, Stitch thrusted his controls forward and ramped into several Heartless ships.

Some he plowed right through, destroying them in an instant.

The ones that managed to absorb the impact were quickly met with the lower rotating gun of Stitch's ship that riddled them with holes.

From behind this small trio of ships, the Destiny Ascension was leading the charge of the Citadel Defense Fleet to engage the invading enemy forces.

Multiple smaller fighters were deployed, quickly joining the three ships that were already fighting the Geth and the Heartless.

While at first, they had a bit of an upper hand at swarming the enemies, the Geth and the Heartless adapted quickly and began shooting down the ships.

Stitch and Della quickly pivoted around to assist the Citadel fighters, zipping by whilst eliminating Heartless and Geth forces to alleviate some of the pressure.

The naval engagement shifted into an even affair between both sides until…

Joker had just eliminated a particularly large Gummi Heartless when the ships radar notified him of a new bigger bogie.

Appearing via a large portal, it was giant Gummi Heartless that was bulky in appearance. Cannon arm on the left with a clawed hand on the left, it had circular shoulders and a circular body with horns upon what was its head and a saucer for the lower part of the body.

In an instant, upon its arrival, many Citadel forces were mowed down as they stood no chance.

Seeing many ships already getting slaughtered left and right, while Della and Stitch's ships had to quickly evade from getting hit, the Normandy's helmsman knew what needed to be done.

Pulling up the ship's contact listings, Joker sent out a call to a certain Alliance Admiral.

It didn't take long for an answer to be received.

"This is Admiral Hackett. What is it, Normandy?"

"Admiral, this is Flight Lieutenant Jeff Munroe. I'm here to report an attack."

"An attack? On what?"

"The Citadel. It's being attacked as we speak."

"Are you certain about that, Flight Lieutenant?"

"I most certainly am as Della; Stitch and I are fighting against a whole vanguard of Geth and Gummi Heartless ships right now! And by the numbers, they aren't stopping."

"I see." Said the Admiral of the Fifth Fleet. "I'll mobilize the Arcturus Fleet immediately. If what you're saying is true-"

"Which it is."

"-then the Citadel Station is indeed under attack and they'll need dire assistance."

"We'll hold out as long as possible, Admiral. Just hurry up and get over here as fast as possible."

"Will do, Hackett out."

-Scene Cut-

Whilst Shepard group had gone off to inspect whatever it was that they needed, Roxas, Xion, Tali, Kaidan and Garrus stuck by the Mako.

Garrus was manning the gun whilst Tali and Kaidan stood at the front with Roxas and Xion sitting atop the vehicle.

They were gazing at the large shield that was keeping them from going any further in this bunker.

Garrus had suggested that maybe Roxas and Xion could break through it and they had tried yet failed. This barrier was different and using their Keyblades wouldn't work. They'd have to find other means.

"Wonder what they'll find down there." Kaidan asked aloud.

"What makes you think they'll find anything?" Tali asked. "This place doesn't look like it's holding up all that well."

"Maybe." Kaidan shrugged. "But the Protheans left beacons and messages of all sorts that we've been finding across the galaxy."

"So there has to be something here." Roxas said, gazing up at the shield.

"Liara said these were stasis-pods of some kind, right Garrus?" Xion asked, turning to the Turian leaning back in his seat on the Mako's gun.

"Yeah, cryo-pods to be exact." Garrus confirmed.

"Then… do you think maybe… one of them has a living Prothean inside?" No. XIV inquired, gazing up at the walls lined with pods.

"Huh…" Kaidan crossed his arms, looking up at the containers. "Possibly."

"Do you think this place has kept them alive for 50,000 years?" Tali asked in curious wonder.

"Who knows." Garrus said. "Aren't-the Protheans-WHOA."

The Turian jolted back at the sight of a Shadow quite literally landing atop the hatch of the Mako's turret.

In an instant, Roxas had his Keyblade out, slicing right through the Heartless before looking up around them.

On the walls, multiple pools of black appeared and out from them came Shadows, Neo-Shadows, Nova-Shadows and Darkballs whilst Water Cores and Earth Cores sprouted up around them.

"Great, more of these guys." Garrus griped, immediately spinning the Turret about and unloading upon the surrounding Heartless.

"They just don't know when to quit." Kaidan grunted, throwing out Biotic lifts to a cluster of Heartless close by that were promptly eliminated by Tali shooting out several Omni-Bolts.

Roxas and Xion had already gotten to work, slicing and slashing their way through the newly arrived Heartless.

The former was using a more physical approach whilst the latter opted to cover his surroundings with a succession of spells.

Garrus was constantly spinning and turning, firing away at multiple clusters of Heartless that just kept on swarming the Mako.

"Spirits sake, what the hell is all this?" Garrus complained, shooting down a group of Neo-Shadows.

"Another parting gift from Saren?" Kaidan said in an inquisitive tone as he threw out a Biotic barrier.

"Maybe." Roxas said with a frown. "But maybe not."

"Why not?" Tali inquired.

"The Heartless always attack, even without being prompted by those that command them." Xion said, firing a Blizzara to take out a Darkball.

"It's probably this place." Roxas said, cutting through several Water Cores. "This place… there's an underlying darkness here. It's coming from all over."

"So it's basically a tomb of darkness." Garrus dryly said. "How appropriate."

Tali was firing her shotgun from every side, using her Omni-Tool on several occasions to momentarily stun any Heartless that got too close.

Kaidan was their crowd control as the Heartless just kept on showing up.

"What the hell, we really don't need this right about now." Kaidan said with his teeth clenched in irritation.

"Xion." Roxas called out to her, leaping forward to the center of the cluster of Heartless.

She quickly followed after him as he had Light surrounding him.

Upon landing on the ground, he cleaved through the Heartless below him and thirteen pillars of light erupted around him.

Xion landed beside him a moment later, crouching down into a spinning slash with small arches of light coming off her that cut through multiple Heartless.

The XIII pillars of light had yet to subside around the sandy-blond haired Nobody as he dashed forward. The pillars provided as both an offensive and defensive measure with the light either damaging or destroying any Heartless he ran at or those that attempted to jump and attack him.

Xion also utilized this dual attack, casting multiple Thundaga and Aeroga spells that were destroying Heartless left and right.

The Heartless were focused on the two Keybearers for the most part, it gave Kaidan, Garrus and Tali the chance to help them out, unimpeded by a majority of the creatures of Darkness.

When the last of them fell, the group let out their respective sighs of relief.

Only for them to suddenly get startled when the nearby doorway opened up.

Whirling around, they aimed their weapons at the source-

"Whoa, whoa!"

Hearing Shepard's sharp tone caused the group to ease up and put their weapons away.

"Sorry, Commander, just went through a little Heartless skirmish." Kaidan reported. "They made it past the barrier and we had to fight them off."

"Apology accepted." Said Jane as the others filed out from the doorway behind her.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" Asked Xion.

"We did and gotta say, didn't expect to find something interesting down there." Said Ashley.

"Meaning what exactly."

"We met a working -even if damaged- Prothean VI by the name Vigil." Responded Shepard.

This earned a surprised look from everyone else not present from the human Spectre's little venture group.

"Was there a reason why you had to go down there?"

"Was it why the kinetic barrier was up?"

"Yes, Vigil was responsible, as he wanted to inform us on a number of things." Shepard told them before getting down into a summary of details. "For starters, the Citadel station is actually an enormous Mass Relay. One that links to dark space where the Reapers have been lying and waiting since the Protheans were wiped out."

Ashley picked things up from there in a rather grim tone. "When the Citadel Relay is activated, the Reapers will pour out and life in this galaxy will be screwed. And when the station is activated and controlled, many other Mass Relays can be disabled, crippling everyone from just about everything you can think of."

"How come no one noticed the Citadel was a Relay in the first place?" Garrus asked in utter surprise. "Surely someone must've found out sooner or later."

"You know those Keepers stationed all over the place?" Axel asked them, earning several nods. "Apparently they're the Reaper's little minions who are tasked in keeping the Citadel true secrets safe and secure from everyone until their bosses invade."

"But why dark space? Why hide there and not go anywhere else? There are other galaxies out there with other life." Tali pointed out.

Wrex was the first one to answer. "It's their hideout as no one is able to detect their presence there. Especially when they go through their own form of hibernation until the 50,000 year marker comes ahead."

"As for them acting out in other galaxies, Vigil had no clear answer. Either he was confused on what we were talking about or his data in responding to the inquiry was degraded." Liara informed the others.

"But what about the Conduit? Did you get the reason why Saren's been hellbent after it?" Roxas voiced the question roaming through everyone else's heads.

"It's apparently the Citadel's backdoor." Axel said bluntly.

The others were shocked to hear this, more so when the details were explained.

Liara gave the reason behind this. "The Conduit is an independent Mass Relay that was made by the Prothean researchers here on Ilos as a means of researching Mass Effect tech before possibly expanding it. Yet the Reapers invaded and that portion came to a halt."

"The remaining Protheans managed to sabotage part of the Reaper's scheme by messing with the Keepers sometime after the Reapers up and left." Spoke No. VIII. "Said people used the Conduit as a one way ticket to quickly get onto the Citadel and altered the signal the Keepers would receive from the Reapers to activate the Citadel Relay when the time came."

"Sovereign needed Saren to go through the Conduit and activate the Citadel Relay from the central control unit there on the station, wherever it's located. Obviously, the Reaper can't do it in person or else their little secret would be exposed too early and unite the galaxy far sooner than expected. So Saren needed his army to take the station and do things manually."

"So the Protheans bought us some time to defeat them." Garrus surmised, earning nods from Shepard and her little venture group. "How?"

"They left clues."

Things soon clicked in Tali's head, making her voice her realization. "Keelah… The beacons! They were supposed to warn us of the Conduit and the Reapers."

"Too bad the majority of them were damaged, due to poor design flaws, or outright destroyed. Only a handful of them remained in the galaxy." Shepard commented.

"Is there a way to use it? This central control unit on the Citadel, I mean." Asked Roxas.

Jane nodded. "I got the data file needed to connect with the control unit and temporarily control the entire station. We just need to get to the Citadel immediately so we can shut the Reapers out."

Nearly everyone got into the tank-like vehicle while the three Nobodies hanged onto its exterior. Once started up, Shepard slammed her foot down hard on the gas pedal. It flared to life with a roar and shot down the waterway, sending water flying in waves.

Time was of the essence now and they didn't have much of it.

Going down another tunnel, Roxas spotted something some distance away.

"We've got Geth and Heartless!"

Garrus was about to take aim with the Mako's guns when Shepard kept their ride moving.

"Shepard, wha-"

"Can't slow down!" She yelled, swerving around a couple of larger enemy forces. She could hear their companions outside momentarily combating them as they tried to attack. "Need to get to the Conduit in time."

The Mako came blitzing out of the tunnel and right through the Geth units and Heartless waiting for them. It came in so fast that they didn't have a proper time of registering their presence and properly taking aim of their respective attacks. All that happened next was that a number of them were run over by the tank-like vehicle as it kept moving forward.

Shepard soon made a turn and flew over the edge of a drop. The landing was a little harsh, having the wheels bounce up to the left a bit, but the right wheels touch the ground soon after, having everyone jumble around in their seats as Shepard performed a power slide landing.

From the outside, the three Nobodies had to steady themselves from the recent hustle and bustle they took on their way over. Some more Geth and Heartless were coming their way, having them do all they could to keep them away.

At this point, they momentarily looked back and saw the Conduit. It was essentially a miniaturized Mass Relay with the central gyroscope spinning rapidly with a white light in the center instead of the typical blue they normally saw.

"There it is!" Roxas called out.

"We're so close!" Said Xion.

"It's incredible." Liara commented from inside of the Mako.

"You guys can admire it later." Axel told them. "We need to get to that Relay, stat."

"Then hop on in guys-"

"No can do, Shepard." Said the Flurry of Dancing Flames as he pulled the two Keybearers off the vehicle. "There's no time to waste. You guys go on ahead, we'll buy you time."

"But what about-"

"If we tried hanging onto the Mako, we might risk getting thrown off and winding to parts unknown. Not to mention we'd get hurt in the process."

"Then how will you get back?"

"With a Corridor of course."

"Axel's right." Said Shepard, readying to drive off once more. "Just meet us back at the Citadel once we reach the Conduit."

"You got it." Said Roxas, readying his Keyblade alongside Xion.

Nothing else was said as Shepard floored it, propelling them forward with water momentarily splashing onto the three Nobodies.

From within the Mako, the occupants could momentarily hear combat behind them. Even Garrus was able to see it happen through the vehicle's scope before they disappeared at a certain point.

Turning the scope around, Garrus saw their pathway wasn't clear enough. "We've got Geth Colossuses!" Declared the Turian, already opening fire upon the larger synthetics.

"And a whole slew of Heartless." Shepard gritted out.

"How many are there?" Asked Tali.

"Quite enough."

Seeing no clear way of combating them all, Shepard once more had to plow right through the enemy forces.

The human Spectre was successful in swerving away from one Colossus before running over a couple of Heartless. Even Garrus was able to momentarily blast a couple of Heartless in the way via Mako cannon in order to help speed things along.

Not once did the Mako slow down. And no one bothered to complain about Shepard's abysmal driving skills.

Everyone else inside could feel the occasional hits made onto the tank-like vehicle, either from the momentary crashes to some projectiles hitting the hull.

"Hang on." Kaidan spoke out. "I just realized something."

"What?" Ashley yelled out.

"You guys said that this Conduit will lead us directly to the Citadel right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Doesn't that mean that we'll be going through faster than light travel… through a Mako?!"

A horrified realization came onto the group as the Mako came to the final stretch.

Connecting with the ramp, Shepard gritted her teeth as she slammed on the gas pedal once more and hit the thrusters. "Everyone brace!"

The Mako sped up and flew off the ramp before falling straight into the Conduit.

Sparks lit up around the vehicle once making contact before it was enveloped in blue light.

There they were sent through like a ship going through a Mass Relay and was shot out like a bullet of light into the sky above.

AN

So here we are in the final stretch of Mass Effect 1.

The final showdown between the Normandy crew and Saren.

After this one, all bets are off and we're going off the deep end.

Mass Effect 2 may follow the formula but there are gonna be soooo many divergences in both franchises. Once ME1 comes to its close, the real fun is gonna explode.

Just been giddy getting to it. And we're almost there.

Jebest4781: On other news, Bioware has finally released an official release date for the Mass Effect Trilogy Remaster labeled Legendary Edition. Reportedly, it'll come out Spring 2021 but given how things are lately things might get pushed back a little.

With the trilogy, the resolution and frame rates will be enhanced along with the textures. Hopefully, the bugs from the original trilogy get patched up. Not to mention every single DLC the trilogy had will be included and not sold as additional content.

FMW: and news of a new Mass Effect game also in the works, Mass Effect overall is gonna be experiencing a new resurgence in popularity.

Asides from that, Happy N7 Day everyone!

Rate Read and Review and as Always Have Nice Day.